Old Anhic language

Old Anhic (anhāqa langva [ɐn.hɐ̠ː.qɐ̠ lɐŋg.vɐ]) was a Mallo-Brausian language spoken around modern-day southern Sunteria, Cysteia and Threonia. Old Anhic is in its own branch of Mallo-Brausian, but it seems to be closest to Elukka (this can be removed at any time if wanted).

Name of the language

The name of the language, Anhāqa, is an adjective meaning 'anhic (relating to the Anrhic people or language)'. Etymologically, it is from the Proto-Mallo-Brausian word *h₂enh₁-ǵʰ-os, meaning 'person' or literally 'breather'. (this can be removed at any time if wanted).

The language may also be referred to as Glangva 'The Language'.

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Old Anhic is notable for its presence of uvular consonants, a rarity amongst most Mallo-Brausian languages.

Consonants

Consonants of Old Anhic

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	-V	p	t		k	q
	+V	b	d		g	ɢ gq
Fricative	-V		s			χ ħ	h
	+V	v	z
Approximant			l	j y
Rhotic			r

This table shows the base consonantal phonemes. There are additional consonants: All plosives and the fricative /s/ have geminated variants that appear in certain contexts.

Whenever an approximant is after a uvular consonant, that approximant becomes uvularized and causes vowel retraction.

• A sequence like /qsɐ/ is pronounced as [qsɐ].
• However, a sequence like /qjɐ/ is pronounced as [qjʶɐ̠].

Vowels

Vowels of Old Anhic

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e
Low		ɐ a

This table shows the base vowel phonemes. There are additional vowels: All vowels except /e/ have long variants. These are romanized with a macron diacritic on top of the base vowel.

Uvular realizations

Uvular consonants (/q/, /ɢ/, and /χ/) cause vowels before and after them to be retracted.

Vowel realizations

Plain	Retracted	Long	Long + Retracted
/i/	[ɨ]	/iː/	[ɨː]
/u/	[u̠]	/uː/	[u̠ː]
/e/	[ɘ]	/ɐː/	[ɐ̠ː] ~ [ɑː]
/ɐ/	[ɐ̠]